Saira Banu (Indian Film Actor)

SAIRA BANU BEAUTY QUEEN
Saira Banu also Saira Bano , Saira Banu was born on August 23, 1944, is the daughter of Naseem Banu, a well-known actress of the 1960’s and 1970’s and the granddaughter of the famous playback singer of the yesteryears Shamshad Begum. She is also the wife of actor Dilip Kumar.

Saira Banu was born in India in 1944. She made her screen debut in the 1961 film Junglee. Though Saira had spent a significant part of her childhood in London, and went to a finishing school, she fit the role of a rustic.

Ever since her marriage, Saira looked for dramatically challenging roles. Her valiant attempts to establish a reputation as an actress after Gopi, Sagina and Bairaag (all with Dilip Kumar) and films like Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s Chaitali met with limited success. In 1976, Saira chose to end her film career. Subsequently she has weathered a storm in her marriage, appeared in a cameo opposite her husband in Duniya (1984); and become a successful television producer.

In 1966, 22-year-old Saira married 44-year-old Dilip Kumar and despite apprehensions from the media, theirs has been one of the longest lasting marriages in Bollywood.

Shashdhar Mukherji, who had discovered Sadhana and Asha Parekh, recommended Saira Banu to his brother Subodh Mukherji when the latter was planning his film, ‘Junglee’. Saira is the daughter of yesteryears beauty Naseem Banu, and was therefore called ‘Beauty Queen’.

‘Junglee’ was a super-duper hit and Saira Banu figured in many more successful films including ‘Shaadi’, ‘Bluff Master’, ‘April Fool’, ‘Aayee Milan Ki Bela’, ‘Shagrid’, ‘Jhuk Gaya Aasman’ and ‘Aman’. With her first film Saira Banu earned herself the image of an Oomph Girl who would chase her man to the ends of the earth. She was the girl who seemed westernised and was yet acceptable to the front-benchers.

Manoj Kumar did full justice to her personality in ‘Purab Paschim’, in which she played an NRI girl under western influence. Her blonde wig and a cigarette burning in her fingers along with an ignorant, “Gita? What Gita?” is still remembered and copied!

At the height of her romance with Rajendra Kumar, among the rumors of their marriage, she surprised the industry by marrying Dilip Kumar, who was twice her age! She continued acting even after marriage and even did some films (‘Sagina’ and ‘Bairaag’) with Dilip Kumar. These days she is producing a popular TV serial, ‘Is Duniya Ke Sitare’.